HELP US VOICE FOR THE CAUSE OF THE HIMALAYAN REGION AND BEYOND !

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May 28, 2010

[ The Nepali Congress 'rebel leader' Nara Hari Acharya is reported below to have drafted a smarter and shorter constitution. Looks interesting and promising in that it contains 15 articles only and allows more room for the federalists also. The lesser the articles the better will be the constitutions – it is what is widely perceived. ( Cf. the United StatesConstitution has only 7 articles and has federal system of government.) Mr. Acharya, before jumping into active politics, was a university professor. No need to explain he can understand what Nepalese academia think right thing to do for the country at this hour.

He stood against Girija Prasad Koirala to go for republican system while the latter was uncertain whether to keep the monarchy at least in the name of a ‘ minor king’ or drop him also out ? Mr. Acharya was leading a group that supported republican system of government for Nepal. Later Mr. Koirala had to bow down. The republican set up - meaning uprooting the monarchy - was one of the major demands for which the Maoists waged a 10 year long Janayuddha (People’s War) that took 14,000 lives.

And Nepali speaking people are being killed or chased away from Meghalaya, one of the north-eastern provinces of India but Nepal government does not seem to have felt anything about it ! This is very sad. Two hundred such Nepalis are reported to have entered Nepal which might aggravate the situation in Bhutanese refugees’ camps in eastern Nepal. Ethnic violence is flaring up but the Man Mohan Singh Government in New Delhi does not seem to be responding to contain the violence. This is awkward. In the past many Nepalese speaking peoples were also chased away from Bhutan but India always showed reluctance doing anything particular. Now thousands of Nepali speaking Bhutanese are 'relocated' in the US soil. Does not India like Nepal and Nepalese speaking peoples exist or live in peace and harmony ?]

1. ACHARYA MAKES OWN STATUTE PUBLIC

KATHMANDU: CA member and central member of the Nepali Congress Narahari Acharya on Friday made public a brief version of 'Nepal's Constitution -2067'.

In the constitution made public on the premises of the Constituent Assembly building in Kathmandu, Acharya has proposed six federal states Karnali, Gandaki, Sagarmatha, Sirjunga, Lumbini and Simrangadh.

He has divided his statute into 15 articles and proposed federal democratic republic, social, political and economic equality among all citizens, religious and ideological liberty and end to all forms of discrimination in its preamble.

The preamble stresses on maintaining mutual unity and harmony among Nepalis by guaranteeing basic human rights and democratic norms and values.

Acharya said that he prepared the model of constitution on the basis of his draft on 'The Concept of Constitution and Model of Federal Democratic Nepal' presented for national discussion three months ago.

Whatever has been happening against Nepalis in the state of Meghalaya, India, in the past fortnight is barbaric to say the least. The local Khasi community has so far killed 17 Nepalis while forcing about 40,000 others to leave the state. Unfortunately, however, the government of Meghalaya is yet to take any concrete action to bring the situation under control while the Nepal government too is yet to formally request the Indian government to act swiftly despite the fact that many of those at the receiving end are not only Nepali speakers but Nepali citizens.

The root of the problem lies in the border dispute between the Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya, which led to the death of four Khasis in Lingpih village (about 60 km from Guwahati in Assam and 140 km from Shillong in Meghalaya) when the Assam Police opened fire on them. In retaliation, the local Khasis, Jaintias and Garos have gone on a rampage throughout the state attacking Nepalis. Sadly, this is not the first time that Nepalis have had to bear the brunt of communal violence in the north-eastern Indian state. What is happening now has an eerie resemblance to what happened in 1987 when thousands of Nepalis were forced to flee the state.

Since Meghalaya has not been able to salvage the situation even a fortnight after the first incident of violence was reported – in fact the state government has tried to downplay whatever has happened so far – we urge the Indian central government to step in. Irrespective of whether the victims are Nepali or Indian citizens, India has a basic duty toward them just on the basis of humanitarian grounds. Meanwhile, Nepal – which has surprisingly been mute so far – must request India to ensure that Nepali citizens are not made victims because of their nationality. It must tell our southern neighbor to remind its state government that Nepali citizens, on the basis of the 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship, qualify to work and earn a living and settle anywhere in India and that they have a duty to protect them much like how Nepal is duty-bound to protect Indian nationals living and working in Nepal.

This paper Wednesday carried a news report, which said that on Tuesday alone 200 people entered the country through the Kakarbhitta border in eastern Nepal. The inflow, which is likely to increase manifolds in the coming days, leaves the Nepali government with quite a responsibility. If those entering the country are Nepali citizens, and if they wish to return at a later date, the government must render them all the help that they can. We must not overlook the fact that the people that we are talking about come from an economically-challenged background and their need for state support is very high.

SHILLONG, 26 MAY: The Meghalaya government today joined the Gorkha Welfare Centre and the Khasi Students Union in rejecting Nepalese media reports of alleged communal violence against the Nepali community in the state.

Kathmandu-based media reports earlier claimed that at least 17 Nepali people lost their lives and thousands were forced to flee following attacks by miscreants in Meghalaya. Four people were killed and several injured in firing by Assam police personnel at Langpih village on 14 May, after a clash between tribal Khasis with Nepali nationals at a weekly market.

Langpih village, about 60 km from Guwahati in Assam and 140 km from Shillong, has been a bone of contention between Assam and Meghalaya. The area has often hit the headlines since the Assam government laid the cornerstone for a health centre there in July 2008.

The Meghalaya government, however, termed the media reports, which claimed that at least 17 Nepali people were killed, as untrue and sensationalist.

"I have heard only one person (Nepali speaking) was killed, which has already been reported in the local media," chief minister Mr Mukul Sangma told IANS, dismissing reports of 17 deaths.

"When nobody came forward to complain, how do I know who has left Shillong?" Mr Sangma said, while reacting to a question on the 'quit notices' allegedly issued to Nepali settlers in Khasi-Jaintia dominated areas in the eastern part of Meghalaya by several NGOs.

Terming these media reports as 'sensationalist', Meghalaya Director G eneral of police Mr SB Kakati admitted that a 70-year-old man was burnt alive and said that there were no records to show 17 Nepalese were killed.

"I am not surprised that some people are sensationalising and trying to take mileage from it," the DGP said.

The powerful Khasi Students Union (KSU), which spearheaded a 12-hour shutdown last week in protest against the Assam police firing at Langpih, also criticized the reports.

Upset with the fabricated news reports, KSU president Mr Samuel B. Jyrwa said the social organisations in Meghalaya were only against the killing of the unarmed Khasi villagers by Assam police personnel.

"Our demand from the government (Meghalaya) was to seek a solution to the vexed boundary dispute between Meghalaya and Assam," Mr Jyrwa said.

On the 'quit notices' served by various NGOs to Nepali settlers, the KSU supremo said: "There is illegality in it as they are foreigners. In fact, the North East Students' Organisation (an apex student's body of various students' unions) had demanded that the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Friendship should not be applicable in the entire Northeastern states."

"The Indo-Nepal Treaty of Friendship, 1950 has opened the floodgates for lakhs of Nepali nationals who have entered the region and managed to obtain permanent citizenship through unfair means.

Tribal Khasi and Garo villagers alleged that the Assam government had been trying to usurp the land in Langpih area by pushing Nepalese nationals to settle in the disputed area.

"Following the (Langpih) incident, yes there is a fear psychosis among the Nepali settlers, but till then we stayed safely and the government ensured security," Mr DB Gurung, a senior leader of the Meghalaya Gorkha Welfare Association, said.

"There was only a case of a 70-year-old man being burnt alive and those reports of 17 (Nepalis) killed is complete rubbish," Mr Gurung told IANS.